Box opening machine



Oct. 18, 1966 E. DRESSER BOX OPENING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 9, 1964 1966 A. E. DRESSER BOX OPENING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 9, 1964 [Kw W9 1 Oct. 18, 1966 A. E. DRESSER 3,279,332

BOX OPENING MACHINE Filed March 9, 1964 5 SheetsSheet 5 Oct. 18, 1966 A. E. DRESSER BOX OPENING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 9, 1964 1v mi Z52 N Na 3 Oct. 18, 1966 A. E. DRESSER BOX OPENING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 9, 1964 INVENTOR ALVlN E. NaEssER United States Patent 3,279,332 BOX OPENING MACHINE Alvin E. Dresser, 5000 Allen Road E., Charlotte, N.C. Filed Mar. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 350,305 13 Claims. (Cl. 93-53) The present invention relates to a carton opening machine and more particularly to a mechanism for automatically opening boxes of foldable sheet material from a fiat condition to an open condition.

The boxes opened by the present invention are of foldable sheet material, such as cardboard, fiberboard, or the like, which are generally used for the packaging of baked goods or the like. Such boxes are normally formed in manufacture so as to provide opposite end, bottom and side walls interconnected along fold lines defining corners for the box and may have flaps in the corners thereof for holding the box in erected condition when set up. For shipping, storing, stacking, and the like, such boxes are normally folded in fiat condition. In such condition, a box is usually folded along diagonally related corner fold lines to superimpose the opposite end and side walls onto the bottom wall for a flat structure.

In order to pack or fill the boxes, it is necessary to unfold or erect the boxes into an open substantially rectangular condition. This preliminary unfolding and erecting step has heretofore been performed largely by hand which obviously is a time consuming, laborious, and expensive means of opening the boxes.

In the past machines have been available for opening boxes of this type; however, these machines proved ineffective to fully open the boxes to a satisfactory erected position. This ineffectiveness of the prior machines was found by this invention to be caused by the lack of necessary cooperation between the means conveying the boxes through the machine and the means for opening the boxes. This lack of cooperation resulted in failure of the boxes being fully erected before leaving the means for opening the boxes.

A further and important drawback in these prior machines is the lack of flexibility in the opening of various size boxes. These prior machines are adapted to open only boxes of like dimensions and no provisions are provided therein for satisfactorily adjusting the operating parts of the machines to provide for the opening and erecting of boxes of different sizes.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a machine for fully opening boxes of the type described to a satisfactory erected position.

Another object is to which will also convey the period of time to obtain the heretofore obtainable.

Another object is to provide a machine which is operable to open various size boxes satisfactorily.

A more specific object is to provide a machine of the type described which will automatically open boxes of this type in rapid succession while substantially continuously progressing the boxes through the machine.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the machine of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the machine with portions broken away;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of the machine;

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevational view of the machine;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 55 in FIGURE 1;

boxes for a predetermined necessary cooperation not provide a means to open the boxes FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 66 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 77 in FIGURE 6; and

FIGURE 8 is a somewhat schematic, fragmentary perspective view showing a box being erected.

Referring now to the drawings, the machine of this invention includes a stationary frame member 10 which carries a hopper 11 for maintaining a supply of folded flat boxes 12 therein, as shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 5. The hopper 11 comprises movable side walls 13, 14, 15 and 16, as may be clearly seen in FIGURES 2 and 3. The side walls 14 and 16 are forwardly extending, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 4, and act as side restraints for the boxes 12 as they pass through the machine. The side walls 13, 14, 15 and 16 each include slide members 17 which are slidingly secured in brackets 18, fixed to the machine frame 10, by set screws 19. The side walls 13, 14, 15 and 16 may thus be moved in and out to accommodate boxes of different sizes by loosening set screws 19 and sliding the slide members 17 in the brackets 18.

Disposed below the hopper 11 are a plurality of first slide members 20 and a pair of primary conveyor chains 21 and 22. The primary conveyor chains 21 and 22 are spaced slightly below the first slide members 20 and are carried by sprockets 23, 24, 25 and 26 respectively. The sprockets 23 and 25 are carried by a driven shaft 27 which is constantly rotated through a clutch machanism 28 by a motor 30. The shaft 27 is journaled in bearings 32 and 34 secured to the stationary frame 10 of the machine. The sprockets 24 and 26 are carried by an idler shaft 38 which is journaled in bearings 40 and 42 secured to the stationary machine frame 10. The primary conveyor chains 21 and 22 carry conveyor lugs 44 and 46 respectively.

In operation, the boxes 12 are maintained in the hopper 11 resting on slide members 20 which are disposed slightly above the conveyor chains 21 and 22, in a flat unopened condition. The primary conveyor chains 21 and 22 are rotating about sprockets 23, 24, 25 and 26 respectively by the drive of the motor 30 through engaged clutch mechanism 28 to shaft 27. The chains 21 and 22 are carrying conveyor lugs 44 and 46 which are adapted tocontact the rear end of the lowermost box 12 in the hopper 11, as shown in FIGURE 5, and push the lowermost box 12 forwardly through the space between the lower end of wall 15 and the slide members 20. This space, as shown in FIGURE 5, is approximately the same height as a single fiat folded box 12 so that only one unopened box 12 is conveyed forward at a time by conveyor lugs 44 and 46.

Cooperating with the above described mechanisms is a pair of secondary conveyor chains 58 and 60. These secondary conveyor chains are carried by sprockets 62, 64 and 66, 68 respectively. The sprockets 62 and 66 are carried by idler shaft 38 and the sprockets 64 and 68 are carried by an idler shaft 70' which is journaled in bearings 72 and 74 secured to the stationary machine frame 10. The secondary conveyor chains 58 and 60 carry a plurality of conveyor lugs 59 and 61 respectively for the purpose hereinafter described. The secondary conveyor chains 58 and 60 and lugs 59 and 61 are driven at the same speed as primary conveyor chains 21 and 22 through idler shaft 38 and sprockets 62 and 66. Disposed immediately above the secondary conveyor chains is a plurality of secondary slide members 63 onto which the fiat unopened boxes 12 are conveyed from the primary slide members 20.

For opening the rear side of the boxes 12, a first pair of hook members 76 and 78 is provided. The first hook members 76 and 78 are disposed above the conveyor ment with a finger member 90- carried by an arm 92 which is fixedly secured to the shaft 80.

To raise and lower the first hook members 76 and 78 out of and into contact with the rear side of a box 12, the shaft 80 is fixedly secured at one end to an arm 94 which is pivotally connected to one end of a connecting rod 96. The connecting rod 96 is pivotally connected at its other end to one end of an L-shaped lever 98 which is pivoted at 100' to the stationary machine frame 10. The L-shaped lever 98 carries a cam follower 102 at the other end thereof. The cam follower 102 rests against a cam 104, carried by a shaft 106 which is journaled in bearings 108 and 110 secured to machine frame 10. The shaft 106 is driven by a sprocket 110, fixed to the outer end thereof, and chain 112 which is driven by a sprocket 114 fixed to the outer end of shaft 38. It may be seen that the movement of cam 104 is in timed relationship with the primary and secondary conveyor chains 21, 22. 58 and 60 since it is driven by shaft 38 through the sprocket and chain drive.

Cooperating with the first hook members 76 and 78 to open the boxes 12 are three pairs of second hook members 116 and 118 adapted to engage and erect the front sides of the boxes 12. The second book members 116 are pivotally secured to spaced brackets 120' which are fixed to an endless chain 122. The second hook members 118 are pivotally secured to spaced brackets 124 which are fixed to an endless chain 126. The endless chains 122 and 126 are disposed around sprockets 128, 130 and 132, 134, respectively. Sprockets 128 and 132 are carried by an idler shaft 136 which is journaled in bearings 1'38 and 140 secured to the stationary machine frame 10. Sprockets .130 and 134 are carried by a shaft 142 slidably journaled in bearings 144 and 146 secured to the stationary machine frame 10.

For driving the endless chains 122 and 126, the shaft 70 has a sprocket 148 secured to the outer end thereof which carries a chain 150. The chain 150 drives a sprocket 152 fixed to a shaft 154 which is journaled in bearings 155 and 157 secured to the machine frame 10. The shaft 154 has a gear member 156 fixed to the outer end thereof which meshes with and drives a gear member 158 fixed to the shaft 142 which drives the endless chains .122 and 126 through sprockets 130- and 134. The shaft 142 is adapted to slide in bearings 144 and 146 to disengage gear 156 from gear 158 so that gear 156 can be rotated to adjust the positions of the second hook members 116 and 118 according to the size of box being opened.

Cooperating with the second hook members 116 and 118 are pairs of stationary cam members 160, 162 and 164. The cam members 160 are disposed generally around one end of the chains 122 and 126, as shown in FIG- URES 1, 2, 4 and 5, and are secured to the stationary frame in any suitable manner. The cam members 162 and 164 are disposed around the other end of chains 122 and 126, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 5, and

are secured to the stationary machine frame 10 in any suitable manner with the cam members 164 being spaced from and superimposed over cam members 162. The second hook members 116 and 118 have cam followers 166 and 168 respectively secured to one end thereof, as shown in FIGURES l, 2, 4 and 5, which are adapted to contact cam members 160, 162 and .164 for moving second hook members 116 and 118 about their pivots in a manner to be described.

In operation, as an unopened box 12 is being conveyed from the hopper 11 on the primary slide members 20 by the primary conveyor chains 21 and 22 and the conveyor lugs 44 and 46, the cam 104 is in the position shown in FIGURE 2 and the first hook members 76 and 78 are being held in the upward position shown in that figure by the action of linkages 102, 98, 96, 94 and members 92 and 90. As the unopened box 12 is transferred from the primary slide members 20 to the secondary slide members 63, the cam 104 is rotated to the right, as seen in FIG- URE 7, by the rotation of shaft 3-8 through sprockets 114, .110 and chain 112 to shaft 106. As the cam 104 assumes the position of FIGURE 7, the cam follower 102 rides up on the high side of the cam which pivots the L-shaped lever 98 downwardly. This downward motion of the L-shaped lever 98 pulls the connecting rod 96 down to pull the arm 94 downwardly. This action rocks shaft to lower arm 92 and finger member The lowering of finger member 90 allows the first hook members 76 and 78 to be lowered through the action of springs 86 and 88 to engage the rear side of the unopened box 12, as shown in FIGURE 7, to subsequently open the rear side of the box 12 as it is conveyed forward through the machine. As the unopened box 12 is transferred from the primary slide members 20 to the secondary slide members 63 and the first hook members 76 and 78 are lowered into engagement with the rear end of the unopened box 12, the second hook members 116 and 118 are being advanced by endless chains 122 and 126 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIGURES 2 and 5. The leading pair of second hook members 116 and 118 is pivoted from the position shown in FIGURE 2 into engagement with the front side of unopened box :12, as shown in FIGURE 5, as the cam followers 166 and 168 advance forwardly of the cam members 162 and 164. The first and second book members 76, 78, 116 and 118 are now in position for opening or erecting the flat folded box 12.

To make certain that the second hook members 116 and 118 are always in proper position for opening any size box, the gear 158 may be disengaged from gear 165 by sliding shaft 142 in bearings 144 and 146 and adjusting gear 158 to obtain the proper positions for the second hook members relative to the first hook members.

To open a box 12, the pair of second hook members 116 and 118 in engagement with the box 12 are continuously moved forward by endless chains 122 and 126 thereby pulling and conveying the box 12 forwardly on secondary slide members 63. This pulling and conveying action will completely open or erect the front and rear sides of the box 12 in the manner shown in FIGURE 8. As the front side is erected, the cam followers 166 and 168 on the pair of second hook members 116 and 1 18 in engagement with the box 12 will strike the cam members to pivotally raise this pair of second hook members out of engagement with the box 12, as shown in FIGURE 2. The movement of the box 12 will then momentarily stop to allow this pair of second book members to advance out of engagement with the box 12 and be carried by the chains 122 and 126 around the cam members 160, as shown in FIGURE 5. Almost simultaneously with this described action, one pair of the conveyor lugs 59 and 61, which are secured to the secondary conveyor chains 58 and 60, contact the rear side of the box 12 as shown in FIGURE 8. These secondary conveyor lugs 59 and 61 push or convey the box 12 forwardly causing the first hook members 76 and 78 to complete the erection of the rear side of the box 12 if the same has not been completely erected previously by the cooperation of first hook members 76 and 78 and second hook members 116 and 118. The first hook members 76 and 78 will be raised out of engagement with the box 12 after the rear side of the box 12 has been completely opened by the action of cam 104 as described hereinbefore and the opened box 12 will be conveyed through the remainder of the machine by lugs 59 and 61 to be collected in any suitable manner.

Referring to FIGURE 8, the box 12 is shown to have corner flaps 170 which will maintain the boxes 12 in an open, erect condition following the above described action of the hook members.

To disengage or stop the operation of the above described machine, the clutch mechanism 28 includes a disengaging rock shaft 172, disposed in bearings secured to the machineframe,'which has levers 174 and 176 on each end thereof for manual engagement and disengagement by an operator of the clutch mechanism 28.

As may be seen, a supply of boxes 12 are continuously opened and erected without any appreciable pausing in the flow of the boxes through the machine due to the interconnections between all of the driven mechanisms of the machine.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A machine for opening boxes of the type formed of foldable sheet material in which the boxes are folded flat in manufacture to provide opposite side, end, and bottom walls superimposed and interconnected along fold lines to define corners, said machine comprising a stationary frame, a hopper means secured to said frame for maintaining a supply of flat unopened boxes, conveyor means operatively associated with said hopper means for continuously conveying the boxes one at a time to a predetermined point in the machine, oscillating hook means for engaging and erecting one wall of the boxes, cooperating traveling hook means associated with said conveyor means to engage another wall of the boxes for erecting the walls and for conveying the boxes forward for a predetermined distance following the conveying action of said conveyor means, and means for operating said conveyor means and said hook means.

2. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 1, in which said conveyor means comprises slide means for supporting the boxes, a pair of driven endless chains spaced below said slide means, and conveyor lugs secured to said pair of chains and adapted to contact the rear side of a box in said hopper for conveying it along said slide means.

3. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 1, including a second conveyor means associated with said traveling hook means for conveying the boxes following the conveying action of said traveling hook means comprising slide means following said first conveyor means in the direction of travel of the boxes for supporting the boxes, a pair of driven endless chains spaced below said slide means, conveyor lugs secured to said pair of chains and adapted to contact the rear side of the boxes to aid in erecting the boxes and for conveying the boxes along said slide means.

4. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 1, in which said oscillating hook means comprises a pair of hook members and a pair of spring members each of which are connected between one of said hook members and said stationary frame of the machine to bias said hook members toward the unopen box.

5. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 4, in which said means for operating said oscillating hook means comprises a constantly rotating cam, an L-shaped lever pivoted to said stationary machine frame and having a cam follower secured to one end for contact with said cam, a connecting rod pivotally secured at one end to the other end of said L-shaped lever, a first arm pivotally secured at one end to the other end of said connecting rod, a shaft journaled in bearings secured to the machine and drivingly secured to said first arm, a second arm drivingly secured to said shaft, and a finger member secured to said second arm adapted to contact said 6 oscillating hook members for raising and lowering said oscillating hook members into and out of contact with the boxes under the action of said cam.

6. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 1, in 'which said traveling hook means are adjustable relative to said oscillating hook means to open boxes of various sizes.

7. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 1, in which said traveling hook means comprises a plurality of pairs of hook members.

8. A machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 7, in which, said means for operating said traveling hook means comprises a pair of driven endless chains moving in the direct-ion of travel of the boxes and having a plurality of brackets secured thereto for movement therewith, each of said traveling hook members being pivotally secured to said brackets on said endless chains, cam means disposed partially around said endless chains, and cam followers secured to each of said traveling hook members adapted to contact said cam means for pivoting said traveling hook members into and out of engagement with the boxes.

9. A machine for opening boxes of the type formed of foldable sheet material in which the boxes are folded fiat in manufacture to provide opposite side, end, and bottom walls superimposed and interconnected along fold lines to define corners, said machine comprising: a stationary frame; a hopper means secured to said frame for maintaining a supply of flat, unopened boxes; a first conveyor means operatively associated with said hopper means for conveying the boxes one at a time to a predetermined point in the machine comprising first side means for supporting the boxes, a first pair of driven endless chains spaced below said first slide means, and first conveyor lugs secured to said first pair of chains and adapted to contact the rear side of a box in said hopper for conveying it along said first slide means; oscillating hook means for engaging and erecting one wall of the boxes; cooperating traveling hook means associated with said first conveyor means to engage another wall of the :boxes for erecting the walls and for conveying the boxes forwardly for a predetermined distance following the conveying action of said conveyor means; second conveyor means associated with said traveling hook means for conveying the boxes following the conveying action of said traveling hook means comprising second slide means following said first slide means in the direction of travel of the boxes for supporting the boxes, a second pair of driven endless chains spaced below said second slide means, second conveyor lugs secured to said second pair of chains and adapted to contact the rear side of the boxes to aid in erecting the boxes and for conveying the boxes along said second slide means; and means for operating said conveyor means and said hook means.

10. In a machine for opening boxes, oscillating hook means adapted to engage and erect one side of the boxes, and cooperating traveling hook means adapted to engage and erect another side of the boxes and to convey the boxes forward for a predetermined distance through the machine.

11. In a machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 10, in which said traveling hook means comprises a pair of driven endless chains, a plurality of brackets fixed to said endless chains, a plurality of pairs of hook members pivotally secured to said brackets and having cam followers secured thereto, and cam means disposed around said endless chains, said cam followers being adapted to engage said cam means for pivoting said traveling hook members into and out of engagement with the boxes as said traveling hook members are carried around said endless chains.

12. In a machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 10, in which said oscillating hook means comprises a pair of hook members, a pair of spring members secured to said hook members for normally biasing said hook members into engagement with the boxes, a rotating cam means, and mechanical linkages including cam follower means adapted to raise and lower said oscillating hook members with and against the bias of said spring members into and out of engagement with the :boxes through the action of said cam.

13. In a machine for opening boxes, as set forth in claim 10, in which said traveling hook means are ad- I justable relative to said oscillating hook means toopen boxes of various sizes.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Berestein 9353 10 BERNARD STICKNEY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A MACHINE FOR OPENING BOXES OF THE TYPE FORMED OF FOLDABLE SHEET MATERIAL IN WHICH THE BOXES ARE FOLDED FLAT IN MANUFACTURE TO PROVIDE OPPOSITE SIDE, END, AND BOTTOM WALLS SUPERIMPOSED AND INTERCONNECTED ALONG FOLD LINES TO DEFINE CORNERS, SAID MACHINE COMPRISING A STATIONARY FRAME, A HOOPER MEANS SECURED TO SIAD FRAME FOR MAINTAINING A SUPPLY OF FLAT UNOPENED BOXES, CONVEYOR MEANS OPERATIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID HOPPER MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY CONVEYING THE BOXES ONE AT A TIME TO A PREDETERMINED POINT IN THE MACHINE, OSCILLATING HOOK MEANS FOR ENGAGING AND ERECTING ONE WALL OF THE BOXES, COOPERATING TRAVELING HOOK MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID CONVEYOR MEANS TO ENGAGE ANOTHER WALL OF THE BOXES FOR ERECTING THE WALLS AND FOR CONVEYING THE BOXES FORWARD FOR A PREDETERMINED DISTANCE FOLLOWING THE CONVEYING ACTION OF SAID CONVEYOR MEANS, AND MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID CONVEYOR MEANS AND SAID HOOK MEANS. 